Chapter 26

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@nolee3097

New chapter alert! Please ignore the mistakes, haven’t proof read! Happy Reading!

Chapter 26

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A strong pair of arms encircled her, preventing her fall, while she closed her eyes in fear. 

"Shiva" she recognized as she slightly opened one of her eyes, to peek through. 

Shiva was indeed standing there, looking at her smiling, his arms tightening around her, he whispered, "Raavi" in his usual deep voice staring into her eyes, making her shiver a little.

Straightening herself up and coming out of her trance, she realized he really was here, standing all healed in front of her. She couldn’t believe that they were meeting after so many days. 

"Tu yahan? Teri chot ab theek hai?" asked Raavi, placing her finger on his forehead, inspecting it and then looking down at his feet.

"Haan, sab ek dum fit, Chattan-fit" he added smirking.

"Par tu yahan kya kar raha hai?" said Raavi inquisitively.

"Kya kar raha hoon matlab, Cricket khel raha hai. Mandir mein log cricket khelne hi toh aate hai, Gadhedhi" he responded sarcastically.

"Pann tu yahan kya kar rahi hai? Tera toh exam hai naa aaj, toh Bhagwaan ko makkhan lagane aayi hai?" asked Shiva knowingly.

"Kuch bhi, main koi makkhan nahi lagane aayi, shubh kaam se pehle bas aashirwaad lene aayi hoon" she huffed past him to go and pray.

She folded her hands in front of the deity and prayed in her mind, "Hey Bholenath, please please aaj meri exams acchi ho jaaye, mehanat toh maine bhar poor ki hai, par baaki aap sambhal lena ki maine acche se likhe aa jaaon" and as she turned around, she remembered something so she turned back up again and added "aur ek cheez aap meri family ko khush rakhna, Maasima, Kaki, Hardik Bhai, Gaumbi, Dhara Di, Dev, Rishita, Krish… aur mere bandar ko bhi, bas uss pe aur musibaat naa aaye please" turning around to find Shiva standing beside her with his arms folded and eyes closed praying.

"Hey Bholenath, aaj Raavi ke liye parishka ka din, bas sambhal lena aap, main chahta hoon ki aap mere aur uske hisse ki khushiyaan bhi usko de de, aur woh humesha mere saath hi rahe" prayed Shiva in his mind and as he opened his eyes to find her staring at him.

"Kya? Ghoor kya rahi hai?" asked Shiva just like she had, a few days ago.

"Nahi kuch nahi" she said annoyed and started walking out of the temple.

"Ae chipkali, sun toh" cried Shiva following her.

"Kya?" asked Raavi dryly.

"Woh Krish nahi aa raha yahan" said Shiva nonchalantly.

"Kya? Kyun? Mere final exams hai aaj!!" exclaimed Raavi ready to enter a state of panic.

"Haan toh iss liye toh main aaya hoon, tere exam ke liye main tujhe chod doonga college" said Shiva, finally revealing the actual reason he was there.

Raavi looked at him in amazement and thought to herself who was he and what had he done to her bhoothnath. Shaking her thoughts out of her head, she smiled at him warmly saying, "Toh seedha seedha kyun nahi bola, itna nautanki kyun"

"Woh kya hai na chipkali, hum itne dino baad mil rahe hai, toh teri pooch keeche bagair mujhe chain kaise aayega" said Shiva, pinching her nose in the process while she rolled her eyes, her smile never leaving her.

"Ab saath chalna hai, ki akele jaayegi" said Shiva snapping her out of her thoughts.

They walked to his bike and left for the college.

———————Outside the college—————

Shiva had managed to distract Raavi from her tensed state when he had shown up at the temple, but as Raavi got down from the bike, it all came rushing back to her. She gulped in nervousness, freaking out about the exams. Taking notice to her facial expressions, Shiva took her hand into his and turned her to face him and said, "Tune bohut mehanat ki hai aaj ke din ke liye, tu meri Raavi hai, tu SheChu nahi Sherni hai, tu sab kuch kar sakti hai, toh yeh exams kya cheez hai, waise bhi khoon choosne waali Chudail toh tu hai hi, tu jaake paper ka khoon choos le, chal ab lambi saans le" taking a deep breath himself and making her mimic it. 

She seemed confident after hearing his words and even managed a smile as he hugged her. Just as she was about to leave, he stopped her by holding on to her dupatta and stepped towards her, hesitating for a second, but gathering up the courage to plant a kiss on her cheek and whispering, "Tera good luck" and leaving her flustered and blushing crimson red. She left to the exam hall dazed, forgetting all about her nervousness. 

—————————Last day of exam——————

Raavi was cruising through her exams quite confidently in the week and Shiva had left no stone unturned in helping her out in every little way possible. It was the last 5 minutes of the last exam. She had finished rechecking her paper twice already, but had decided not to submit her papers yet, she wanted to wait for the five minutes to be over. 

On the other hand, Shiva was seen pacing outside her college, praying to Bholenath to continue showering his blessings on her. A few minutes later, he heard the college bell ring and looked out to see if he could spot Raavi coming out. There was a rush of students that kept walking out, talking about how hard the paper was, making Shiva anxious. 

Some female suddenly came to Shiva and tried to strike a conversation. "Aap Shiva ho na? Pandya Store se?" asked the girl, eyeing him slyly.

"Ji, aap ko humaare dukaan se kuch mangana tha, hum home delivery bhi dete hai" asked Shiva meekly.

"Delivery dene aap aate hai ghar pe?" she asked twirling a strand of hair, clearly trying to flirt with Shiva.

"Ji?" asked Shiva, puzzled at how that was relevant.

"Matlab aap hone delivery karne aate hai, toh hi samaan mangaaongi" clarified the girl, unaware of her ominous fate.

"Toh samaan mangane ki koi zaroorat nahi hai" came a voice from behind. Breathless with anger, Raavi made her way to stand next to Shiva with her arms folded. Her temper sparked and rage stirred within her, how dare this girl even think about flirting with her Bhoothnath? And what was her Bhoothnath doing here, encouraging this kinda behavior? She glanced at Shiva and glared at him, as he shifted uncomfortably in his position, looking at her fearfully.

"Tum kaun ho?" asked the girl in frustration.

Raavi felt a flash of irritation and said, "Main jo bhi hoon tujhe usse kya, par baat yeh hai ki Shiva mera hai" holding on to his hand and dragging him away to the bike, not waiting for a response from the girl.

"Raavi, tu—" started Shiva, helplessly.

She gave him one look and he silenced down, mounting on his bike, waiting for her to join him. She sat behind him and they rode all the way to a park nearby. 

—————At the park--------------

She sat down on a park bench, still simmering with anger. Shiva decided to do something about it, he left from there without saying a word and came back with two ice cream cones in his hand. He simply sat down beside her, offering one to her, while relishes the other one, still not talking. Raavi slowly came around and took it from him and soon she started eating it too. 

"Woh tera saath flirt kar rahi thi, aur mujhe bilkul bhi accha nahi laga, tu chup chaap usse aur ghaas kyun daal raha tha" said Raavi in a calm voice, well more calmer than she felt earlier.

"Raavi, hum dukaan ki baat kar rahe the" said Shiva, as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Shiva, tujhe kuch dikhaayi nahi deta kya, woh dukaan mein nahi tere mein interested thi" added Raavi, irritated at how clueless he seemed.

"Raavi, chod na yeh bekaar ki baatein, uske mujh mein interested hone ya naa hone se kya farak padta hai, waise bhi abhi abhi ek chipkali usko suna ke gayi ki main sirf uska hoon, toh phir yeh befizool ka gussa kyun" said Shiva, trying to get her to calm down.

"Acha, befizool ka gussa? Jab Sameer mere kareeb aake dance karta tha, tab tujhe gussa nahi aata tha kya?" snapped Raavi, touching a nerve. And Touche.

"Ab Sameer beech mein kahan se aaya, uss Gadhedhe ki toh baat hi—" started off Shiva, realising he understood what she meant. 

"Okay meri Chipkali, samajh gaya, I am sorry, tera gussa bilkul jaayiz hai, khush?" said Shiva, accepting defeat and folding his hands in front of her, bowing down dramatically, making her roll her eyes.

"Yeh sab ke chakkar mein poochna hi bhool gaya, tera exam kaisa tha?" he asked in all seriousness, a little bit nervous himself.

"Kaafi accha gaya, main toh bas khush hoon ki exams khatam ho gaye, ab toh bas results ka intezaar aur phir job milne ki deri hai" said Raavi, jumping out of her seat in joy and twirling around with a broad smile on her face. 

The results were going to come in a week’s time and then their college would hold a career fair where all recruiters from various companies would come and try to hire people who would seem like the best fit. She recalled that she would need her documents folder which was probably lying in some corner of her cupboard at her Maasi’s place. Her face grimaced at the thought of her going back there, when Shiva caught on to her mood change and asked her what’s wrong.

"Maasimaa se milne jaana hoga, mere documents aur resume related cheezein laane ke liye" she said, looking distressed.

Shiva’s face hardened at her words unsure of how to approach this conversation.

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What do you think Shiva should do?

Also, what did you guys think of ShiVi’s temple visit?